Sunday sit-down: Christopher McLaughlin

Christopher McLaughlin has overcome visual impairment to work as a dispatcher at Charter.

Christopher McLaughlin is an able man. He works as a dispatcher at Charter, one of the largest cable operators in the country, and does it well, always gives 110 percent, his supervisors say. But he has bad vision. The quality of an image he sees from 20 feet, someone with “normal” vision can experience from 70 feet — and that's his good eye. His right eye falls between 20/150 to 20/200. Although he had trouble finding a job in the past, Mr. McLaughlin has become “an inspiration” in the office.

How long have you been visually impaired?

Since birth. I was born with congenital cataracts.

What is that?

Congenital cataracts is a disease that can cause crystallization of the lens. When they had caught it, unfortunately the lens was fully crystallized and needed to be removed in both eyes.

Explain why the lens is important.

The lens is a focal point. Think of it like a focus for all the images. Without that there is no focus, it's nothing but blurry ... I've actually had a few surgeries to help correct that.

What can you see?

It's (difficult) with the left eye reading anything far away or anything that's in smaller print; the right eye is anything beyond a hand's reach is blurry.

Tell me about your previous work.

I worked at Charter for the past six years but I had not had much of a job beyond internships through college. This is the first actual real job I was able to acquire. Before then I was a student at Worcester State College.

What are your goals for the future?

My aspirations at this point are to finish paying off my college loans and then apply for a master's degree, looking to fulfill a master's degree in business administration and from there to see where that might take me.

How did you get this job?

I went in to (apply for) one job and ... I was totally crushed, I will admit it. The job was they had a simple test of 'Can you copy these forms down accurately?' and unfortunately they didn't help me at all. The print that they gave me was too small, the screen wasn't right, there was no second interview, they just kind of said, 'You can't do this, move on.' ... And then I went back to the person at the time I was working with to find a job and they said, 'We'll try one more place; let's see where it goes.' I'm of that sort that you don't give up, you keep going and you keep trying and he had noticed in the paper there was an open house for Charter and he said, 'Do you want to try it?' ... I went down to the open house interview and the first thing that happened was they gave me a test and I was like, 'Oh boy another one of these.' What was actually pretty nice was they tested on larger screens and they helped me change the resolution and helped me change the way it was to get it working. And I was like, 'Hey this actually works, I can do this.' And then I had a meeting with, at the time one of the supervisors, to see where I was for the job and he was very pleasant and it was one of those opportunities where he was like, 'I think you're worth giving it a shot.'

What's your favorite part of your job?

Just making a difference within the local community. That's one of the reasons I focused in on dispatch, was to work with people within the New England area.

Was there ever a point where you were ready to give up?

It really did hit me after that interview before this one, where they said there was no chance, 'Sorry, you can't do this.' You hit that low point but the idea is once you hit that low point just asking yourself, 'Well what am I going to do?' A friend once told me you have two options in life: You can either sink or you can swim — and you know, that's the idea. I'd rather just swim and keep on moving. That's the only difference. Just keep on going.

Do you think that other disabled people should seek out career opportunities as you did?

I think it's a person's own personal choice. It's a bridge you have to cross as a person. It's a bridge of, 'Where do I want my life to lead? How do I want to live my life? Am I capable of this?' And it's that whole idea. You can tell people that you should do this and you can do this but it's your own personal identity. It's if you think you can do it usually you can ... It's that whole idea of mental state.

How did you come to have such a strong willpower and positive outlook?

My parents have always had a strong work ethic. It was partially my friends, my family, and my own outlook on life, just an introspective outlook ... Maybe I'm lucky I was born with a strong will; maybe it's because I'm Irish and stubborn.

What is your message for others who might have disabilities and are struggling to find a job that works for them?

Always follow your heart and stay true to who you are. That the message is to never give up and to stay true to who you are and to just keep being you. As long as you can hold onto that truth everything else falls into place. As long as you hold onto that idea that you can do things and you are strong enough to do it, you'll be able to succeed.